Mortgaging the Farm by Pendleton's Lithography

Pendleton's Lithography · ca 1830

This black and white print depicts a farmer stopping for a drink at an establishment "licensed to retail spirits." He is offering a paper, presumably the mortgage for his farm, in payment of the alcohol. A hay wagon pulled by oxen waits in the road. A distillery is visible in the background with a cross above its chimney indicating its priority to serious drinkers. A verse describing the evils of drink appears below the title. In the companion print, <i> Lifting the Mortgage </i> (DL.60.2983), the farmer redeems himself by signing a temperance pledge.